Shot Cuts: Double treat

Singer Mano is on cloud nine. His Manathodu Mano has crossed 175 episodes in Jaya TV. “I have interviewed 175 singers and actors during the course of the show, but the best were my interactions with P. Susheela and S. Janaki. I’ve seen these legends work at close quarters when I was an assistant music director. After the episodes relating to them were telecast, I got lots of phone calls. They also got terrific feedback and both have asked me to give them a copy of the programme. That itself is a big compliment for me. The only important singer who has not been featured in the programme is S.P. Balasubrahmanyam. This is because we want to present him before a large audience. We are working towards this significant programme, which will later be telecast,” says Mano who has sung more than 20,000 songs in different languages and donned the greasepaint for a few films.

Yeh dosti...

Two big stars coming together for a film is not new. And it seems to have become a trend with Arya and Vishal. The former is said to play a brief, yet important role in Madha Gaja Raja (MGR). Scenes involving Arya were recently shot in Hyderabad. Apparently Arya likes to be in his friend Vishal’s films. So when the unit asked him to do a portion, he obliged and finished the shoot in a day. The film directed by Sundar C has Taapsee playing the leading lady.

What next?

Actor Samantha is gung-ho about Gautham Vasudev Menon’s Neethane En Ponvasantham. After completing the film, she will move to a big-budget film by director Vijay starring actor Vijay. Way to go girl! After all, you need to make up for turning down Mani Ratnam’s Kadal and director Shankar’s new film with actor Vikram.